Forsaken (Academy of the Fallen #4) Page 4

  I try to argue and say I shouldn’t be around humans, after all, they will notice I’m still the same. As an immortal, I stopped aging when I was around 18. Well, I stopped aging but that doesn’t mean I haven’t changed. Looking in the mirror I can see that these years I have spent hunting demons changed my body. I look stronger… at least on the outside. But Kayla’s parents know the truth and they guaranteed that no one else would be around.

  ***

  I take a deep breath before going into their house. I keep thinking about the times I saw Kayla and how this was the place where she was taken from. I knock on the door and her dad opens it. I can see he is not happy about my visit. Seeing me brings back memories, but at least he hasn’t forgotten her. It’s nice knowing that her absence hurts more than just me.

  “Hunter, come on in,” he says.

  I walk in and her mom comes to say hi. I’m a little shocked by how much she aged and although it’s obvious that she had been crying, she forces a smile and talks about how great I look. She then says that dinner will be ready soon.

  I can’t do this. I feel like I’m deprived of air… I literally can’t breathe.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t be here. Not without her.” I turn around and storm outside.

  Andrew, Kayla’s dad, runs after me, “Hunter, please wait.”

  I stop, turn around, and stand in front of him.

  His eyes water. “Has anything changed? Do you have any new information?”

  I shake my head. “Nothing new. With time, everyone gave up. The demons are quiet so they think nothing is going to happen, but they are wrong. Whatever Benjamin’s father is planning must be bad if it’s taking this long.”

  He nods.

  “I’m not giving up until I find her,” I say.

  “And I thank you for that, but it’s been four years.” He pauses. “Hunter, I could never ask you to keep your life on hold because of her.”

  “She is my life.”

  He smiles with approval.

  “How is Kim?” I ask.

  “She’s okay. She turned 17 last week. All I keep thinking is that she is one year older than Kayla was last time we saw her.”

  “I hate to ask this, but do you think she can help attract Benjamin?”

  He shakes his head.

  Just then I hear a voice I haven’t heard in a long time come from the side of the house. “I can help you find him,” says Ethan.

  I look at him in shock and so does Kayla’s dad. The Fallen don’t usually show themselves in human form, but well, Ethan is no longer the same anyway. He looks exhausted, and his wings are darker than they were before.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask. I want to be mad at him but I know that none of this is really his fault.

  “I asked Kim to have you meet me here. Ever since we heard about all this, Jennifer and I have been tracking Benjamin and Stephaine. We know he has the answers we need to get where Kayla is, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

  Andrew and I stare at him and hear what he has to say.

  “Jennifer and I think that we can use Stephaine to get to him, but the problem is they’re always together. We would have to work something out to separate them, unless we just talk to them together and hope that Stephaine takes our side.” He pauses and shakes his head. “But even if he tells us how to get to Kayla, we can’t actually go and get her… because of what we are.”

  “But I can,” I say. “I’m immortal. This will work right?”

  “There is no telling for sure, but I guess you are our best option.”

  “Let’s go.”

  ELEVEN

  KAYLA

  As soon as we are out of that illusion and back in the room, I take one good look at Samael and notice how different he looks. I don’t know how to explain it other than to say that he looks older. I know he didn’t look like this when I saw him in his illusion.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks.

  “You look older. Why do you look older?”

  “I don’t freaking know. You don’t look any different, well, besides your hair, but that was different before.”

  “How long were we stuck in that illusion?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “Time does move at a different pace in illusions, but I don’t know. Anyway, I assume if a lot of time passed, you would be different too.”

  “Well, you know what they say about assuming.”

  “No, I don’t. Enlighten me.”

  I shake my head. “Never mind.”

  We fall into an uncomfortable silence.

  Finally, I ask him what I’ve wanted to know since I saw him in his illusion.

  “Who was the girl? I ask.

  “Someone from my past.”

  “Yeah, Captain Obvious. She certainly isn’t a part of your present. Who was she?”

  “She was just someone who blamed me for the world’s evils.”

  I give him a puzzled look.

  He makes a grunting sound like he is irritated. “Her name is Rachel. She became one of the haunted because of me.” He takes a deep breath and looks away from me. “I never had a normal life. Unlike you, I spent a lot of time being trained to be a Nephilim, until I decided I was through with it. I never liked being what I am. I hate this whole angel politics and what they’ve done to my family. They’re the reason my parents never worked out. My dad said it wasn’t safe for me to be in the human world, so he took me away when I was little and dropped me off at the Academy. After that, I saw him once every couple of years.

  “Anyway, when time came, they wouldn’t let me go so I started doing little things to piss them off. I went as far as finding a demon to protect while he haunted humans for fun. When the Academy finally had enough of me, they let me go and I turned the demon over for them to trap him again. My mom had disappeared shortly after dad took me away so I moved in with my aunt, and Rachel was one of her neighbors. We spent a lot of time together, until one day, I saw her run back from school and she looked terrified. She told me she was seeing things that weren’t there and that she had a message for me… a message from that demon saying he would terrorize everyone who was a part of my life. Once she learned about what I am, she vowed to stay away from me for as long as I’m a nephilim.

  After that, I just went to live on my own for a while. I started to work in the human world. It was just a job to pay bills, but the fallen weren’t happy that I was using my nephilim abilities to get into people’s heads and do the whole psychic thing. I had to quit and move back in with my aunt. By then, I convinced myself that the demon had found better things to do and I went to see Rachel. I was even willing to lie and say that I was no longer a nephilim, but as soon as I approached her, the demon showed up.

  I wasn’t going to let the demon control my life though, so I went after him and the fallen intervened saying that I had no right to attack the demon, unless I was attacked first. So I started to provoke him and that put Rachel’s life at even more risk. I got in trouble for that and they said I had to either move into the Academy indefinitely or train you and then I could go back.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Why? Your situation with Hunter is no different. Because of what we are, we attract all this junk. If you think one day you will live a happy life with him, well, you’re delusional.”

  I ignore what he says because I know he’s not in the best mood after telling me all that.

  “The demon promised to make you human if you helped him with this nephilim training, didn’t he?” I ask.

  “I told you, I—”

  “Don’t lie to me. I should probably tell you right now that I know when you are lying. You’re not good at it.”

  He nods. “You’re mad, aren’t you?”

  I shake my head. “In a weirdly messed up way, no, I’m not. I guess I understand.”

  He gives me a crooked smile. “It sucks to be us!”

  Before I can even say anything, we hear a loud crashing sound and I quickly get
up.

  I stand there frozen. I can feel that the demon is around.

  “We should be training. Just in case he comes here,” I say.

  Samael shrugs and stands up. “Let’s do this.”

  I stand in front of Samael. I can tell his mind is far away from this room, and I don’t even know where to start with this pretend training. I suggest that we do a different kind of training; the physical kind… just to let out some stress. He goes along with the motions. He has both arms up to block me as I attack. I move my right leg up to kick him and I’m actually faster than he is, partially because he seems weak because of the illusion. My leg comes in contact with his right hip. He grins like he is proud of how far I’ve come… or how much he has taught me. I’m about to move toward him again when we hear a high-pitched sound, like someone screaming. We both freeze, and our eyes widen as we stare at one another and hear the scream turn into crying.

  The crying stops and I shiver. The demon isn’t alone.

  I can’t even explain what I feel… I can’t put into words… there is this power.

  “Do you feel this?” I ask.

  Samael nods.

  “We have to take whoever this is with us when we go. Either that or destroy it. We can’t leave this kind of power on Ezra’s hands,” Samael says.

  I nod.

  TWELVE

  Day in and day out, we train and train and whenever we can, we work on the wards inside the building. They were strengthened since we heard that sound. The weird thing is that no one ever comes for us. I expected the demon to come and give Samael what he promised by now, but he never does.

  We still don’t know how long we’ve been here. Before we got lost in illusions, Samael could estimate how long we had been gone, but that is no longer the case. We sleep when we’re exhausted and wake up whenever. I can tell that Samuel looks at least a few years older. I can’t even imagine what I look like. Older, I’m sure… and that makes me think of Hunter and how he is immortal and that even when we do get out of here, it will already be too late for us.

  “What is on your mind?” he asks.

  I shrug.

  He leaves it alone. He always does.

  “Do you think he is still trying to find me?” I finally ask.

  He shrugs.

  “Well, thanks for the reassurance.”

  “I’m just being honest. I don’t know. I mean… it obviously has been a long time.”

  My eyes widen. “Do I look a lot older?”

  He gives me a strange look. “You actually look about the same. I mean,” he looks me up and down, “you look better. Anyone could tell you’ve been training.”

  There is an uncomfortable silence.

  “You should cut your losses and move on,” he finally says.

  I watch him curiously then burst into laughter. “You mean, move on with you?”

  He grins. “I don’t see anyone else around.”

  “Stop it, okay? Obviously, being locked in here for this long is getting to you. I’m getting out of here and—”

  “And what?” he snaps, startling me. “Do you think you are going back to your life before all of this? Because I can damn sure guarantee you that your life there will never be the same. By now, everyone fell back into a routine. Your sisters grew up, your parents got older, they have grieved, they moved on.”

  “Why are you in a bad mood?”

  He sighs and I notice he clenches his fists then slowly takes a deep breath before looking me in the eyes. “I’m sorry, okay? I just… I know we’ve been here for a long time and I don’t know what his plans are or if someone will ever even come for us. Yeah, let’s say we get out of this house, then what? There is nothing but destruction, lost souls, and fires out there. We’ll never find our way back.”

  I walk over to the window and stare outside. None of the other lost souls ever came close to where we are. From a distance, I can see the two who I healed and they stand there, at opposite sides, like they are guarding the place.

  I almost have a heart attack when I feel Samael breathing against my neck. I flinch and turn around.

  He’s too close for comfort.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  “Don’t you miss it?” he asks like if I can read his mind.

  “Miss what?”

  “Human contact. Kissing… hugging…”

  I look down, avoiding his gaze. “Well, I do, but that doesn’t mean—”

  “Kayla,” he interrupts. “We might not ever get out of here again. Do you know how hard it is to watch you having those nightmares and not be able to protect you… not be able to wake you up and put my arms around you… And all because you will freak out at the fact that I’m not Hunter!”

  I purposely ignore most of what he just said, “I wasn’t aware I was having nightmares,” I say.

  “That is because I have other ways to stop them.”

  I give him a puzzled look but he just stands there and looks at me, and I know that he isn’t going to tell me how. Either way, we have a bigger problem now.

  “You’re losing hope.” As soon as I say those words, he loses it.

  “You think? We’re stuck here, forever, and alone… and it’s my fault! I’m tired of it. I’m sick of being this.”

  I see the desperation in his eyes and what breaks me is that he looks like he’s about to cry. I move forward and put my arms around him. I feel his arms going around my waist and he instantly calms down. He wasn’t kidding about the human contact. It’s almost like the lack of human contact caused him to have this breakdown.

  We stay like this for a while, just hugging each other, quietly. When I try to pull away, he pulls me closer, tightening his arm around my lower back and he leans his head down and rests it against the curve of my neck. We stay like that a little longer before he finally lets go.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  He nods but doesn’t say anything. He is far from okay.

  “Let’s get back to training okay? It will get your mind off things.”

  THIRTEEN

  We hear the door open and the demon walks in.

  He grins. “Good. You’ve been training. There is someone you need to meet and I want you to teach him everything that you know in a very short period of time.”

  “We are not teaching anyone anything,” I say.

  The demon grins at me. “You see… I don’t think you have a choice. I assume you want to go back to your life at some point, yes?” He gives me a puzzled look. “Besides, would you rather he grows up knowing nothing, just like you grew up?

  I give him a puzzled look, which he mistakes for something else. Growing up? What does he mean? I swallow the lump in my throat.

  “That is what I thought.”

  “Child,” he calls. “Come in.”

  The little blonde hair boy with Samael’s green eyes stands at the door.

  I freeze.

  “How long have we been here?” asks Samael.

  The demon shrugs. “About four years, give or take,” the demon watches us, grinning from ear to ear.

  I look at Samael and see that he is staring at the boy. “He looks like us,” Samael says puzzled.

  The demon continues to grin, his eyes bright with expectation. “Lilith has talents that are greater than science. Now teach him. As soon as I see improvements, I’ll give you what you want and the girl can finish his training.”

  We’re both speechless. We quietly stare at the boy standing by the door.

  The demon walks past him and disappears. The boy stands there, just watching, and he looks scared.

  Samael looks at me and I look at him and we are both shocked and lost.

  “What is the deal with Lilith? Who is she? Isn’t she like known for being the mother of succubi demons?” I whisper to him as the boy watches us.

  Samael looks from the boy to me. “We’ll talk about that later.”

  “Come here,” Samuel says to the boy.

  The boy walks towa
rd us and over and over I think about how much he looks like Samael and me. It’s truly scary. The boy watches us and I wonder if he notices the same similarities, especially Samael’s eyes, or if I’m just reading too much into things.

  Samael kneels down on the floor. “What’s your name?” he asks.

  The boy shrugs.

  “What does Ezra call you?”

  “Child,” he says in a low tone. “Or Nephilim.” He says the word perfectly. In fact, for being a little over three, he seems to understand a lot and speak as if he was much older.

  “Where do you live?”

  He seems confused by the question at first. “We just moved to a new house. I don’t know where.”

  “Is there anyone else who talks to you?” I ask. “Besides Ezra?”

  He nods.

  “Who is that?” I ask.

  “Callie.”

  “Is Callie your mom?”

  He shakes his head. “What is a mom?”

  I open my mouth to answer but Samael nudges me on my leg and shakes his head.

  The boy continues to stand in front of us and I keep thinking about how I was his age when my dad gave me away. I begin to feel sorry for the boy.

  “We should name him,” I say to Samael.

  “No, we shouldn’t. You name him and you’ll get attached.”

  I laugh. “He’s not a pet, Samael.”

  Samael continues to watch him. The boy is so serious. He doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t talk unless spoken to. He just watches.

  “Fine. What do you want to name him?” he asks.

  I shrug. “I don’t know… Jacob?”

  He lets out a laugh. “As in the werewolf from Twilight? I don’t think so.”

  I roll my eyes at him. “Fine. You name him.”

  “Trent.”

  “Trent?”

  He shrugs. “I like it.”

  I look at the boy. “Do you like that name?”

  He nods. “Why don’t you sit down, Trent.”